Graduation Plan

This graduation plan is a sample plan and is intended to be a guide. Your specific
plan may differ based on your Math and English placement and/or transfer credits applied.
You are encouraged to meet with an advisor and set up an individualized graduation
plan in
Wolverine Track.

Milestone courses (pre-requisites for a course in one of the subsequent semesters)
are marked in red and Italicized.

Semester 1

Course Title

Credit Hours

MATH 1050 or MATH 1055 OR MATH 1090 or Higher math course

College Algebra or College Algebra with Preliminaries orCollege Algebra for Business

Department

The department offers three bachelor degree programs in Economics, Finance, and Personal Financial Planning (PFP). Graduates in economics find employment in a variety of public and private institutions while many go on to graduate education in economics, law, public policy, an MBA and other disciplines. Finance major’s move on to careers in corporate financial management, as investment managers and analysts, in banking and other careers in the finance industry. Faculty in the department have been remarkably successful in supporting students taking the financial industry’s most sophisticated accreditation exam, the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), first level that is available to seniors at the university level. The business world is more competitive today than in past generations. Decision makers understand the increasing importance of getting things right the first time using business models and measurement methods to make business and policy decisions.

The PFP program is designed to prepare students for professional careers as fee-for-service certified financial planners.Unlike the other two degrees that offer Bachelor of Arts and Sciences as well as minors and emphases in integrated studies, the PFP program is restricted to a single bachelor of science degree. Students who complete the PFP degree will in many respects emulate the careers of accountants who work with individuals and organizations in the management of wealth, personal resources, and provide other professional functions.The PFP Program is registered with the Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) Board of Standards, Inc. The classes taught in the Department of Finance and Economics are designed to give students the background they need to make professional business decisions. The department also offers an online group of courses in cooperation with Dalton Education that meet the CFP® educational requirements for practicing professionals in the financial industry to sit for the accreditation examination. Finally, the department offers a post-bachelor Certificate in PFP which again has been registered with the CFP® Board to meet education requirements to qualify to take the professional accreditation exam.

Experienced faculty work with students in understanding the theory of their discipline and then demonstrate how to apply that theory in the pragmatic application of those principles in financial management, economics, statistics, and other business courses critical to their professional development.

Finance & Economics

Job Outlook

The need for economic and financial decision makers is increasing at all levels of business and government. Job demand is high, particularly in larger metropolitan areas, and the employment outlook is excellent. Those trained in finance and economics who also have competence in information analysis can enter fields such as fund management, energy, securities, securities market regulation, or government financial management. Those with foreign language capabilities may also have access to employment in international business, international finance, import/export, and securities operations. The PFP program gives graduates an opportunity to both work for themselves in the capacity of an individual planner as well as to obtain employment in other organizations as they provide needed services to clients.

Programs

As noted earlier, students interested in finance and economics may receive a Bachelor of Science Degree (BS) or Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Economics or Finance. There are also Minors in both Economics and Finance as well as an emphasis in Integrated Studies in both the Economics and Finance disciplines. However, the PFP program only offers a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree with a variety of courses designed to prepare students to take certification exams offered by national financial planning associations.